


Slippin’ into the Lava (Burnin’ Up)

by georgescatcafe



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fire Powers, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, ish, realistic minecraft au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27770131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgescatcafe/pseuds/georgescatcafe
Summary: It’s like he’s a kid again, wild and untamed, flames dancing along his fingers at the slightest spike in emotion. He had learnt to curb that, calm himself down, calm the fire inside down, but now he’s back to square one.“I’m scared I’m going to burn you,” Sapnap says, quiet.“I’d let you burn me,” George replies.
Relationships: GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 360





	Slippin’ into the Lava (Burnin’ Up)

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this really fast for my friend :)
> 
> also i uploaded this on my phone bc i dont have wifi rn so if there r any formatting errors its prolly from that so sorry T___T
> 
> title from “burnin’ up” by the jonas brothers

It’s like he’s a kid again, wild and untamed, flames dancing along his fingers at the slightest spike in emotion. He had learnt to curb that, calm himself down, calm the fire inside down, but now he’s back to square one.

George glares at the burnt marshmallow at the end of his stick. Sapnap tries to apologize, but it comes out flat—he’s disappointed. In himself. The night had been going so well, him and his friends out on the beach, not nearly enough wood or materials for a bonfire, leaving Sapnap as their next best thing. So they had been standing in a loose circle, Dream distributing marshmallows before remembering he’s got stuff for s’mores, proper s’mores, back in his house, so he’d gone back, and George had turned to Sapnap then, expectant, marshmallow on the end of a stick, and Sapnap had sighed and allowed the fire to burst from his skin, reaching into the night sky.

It had been fine. George hovered his marshmallow over Sapnap’s hands, and Sapnap tried to give him that perfect golden crisp. But then George leaned in closer, and the flames made his eyes glow amber, and he smelt like petrichor, like home, and Sapnap felt his heart jump, and with that so did the flames in his palm, shooting up into the sky and turning George’s marshmallow into something of a torch. 

“I’m really sorry,” Sapnap says, genuine as he can, but George just brushes him off.

“We’ll just try again when Dream gets back.” He stares at the pathetic pile of goop and ash on the sand. “What even happened?”

Sapnap feigns ignorance. Claims that something outside himself might’ve set off the flames. “It happens sometimes.” And it does, really, but not this time.

George accepts it, but a good three feet remain between them until Dream gets back.

* * *

The next time it happens, it shouldn’t have even happened at all. They’re on a hunt for lapis now, Dream wanting it for enchanting purposes, and they’ve just found the mouth of a cave, the path down it dark and treacherous. The dark oak forest that surrounds them doesn’t help in the least, the layers of leaves up above blocking out most of the sun. Sapnap leans against the trunk of one of the thick trees, eyes closed, just resting. He’s fine, calm, content to let Dream and George sniff around the entrance, figure out what monsters lay inside.

“So are you coming?” Sapnap’s eyes fly wide open. George’s breath is warm against his lips, and immediately their eyes lock, dark blue on brown.

“Uh,” Sapnap says intelligently.

George moves in even closer, and Sapnap finds himself backing up even more against the tree as his heart begins to pound. “We think this thing goes pretty deep, so Dream says to set up camp here and wait until morning, then head down as far as we can.”

“That’s,” Sapnap says, “smart.” He swallows as George nods.

“Do you want this tree then?” George asks. “It’s probably safest to stay in them instead of down here.”

From somewhere behind Sapnap, a skeleton rattles, proving George’s point.

Sapnap blinks. “Yeah. Unless, uh, you want it.”

George squints at him then, a frown on his face. He lifts a hand to Sapnap’s forehead, touching the skin there with the back of it. Sapnap’s breath catches. “Are you okay? You’re being, like, weirdly awkward.”

“No,” Sapnap immediately says. “You’re awkward.”

George snorts, brow lifting. “Yeah? Well, you’re—oh my God, Sapnap, you’re going to start a fucking forest fire!” Sapnap stares at him in confusion before looking down at where his palms are pressed flat to the tree. George is right. From between his fingers, little flames lick away at the tree. They turn to each other right as the smell of burning bark hits their noses.

“Shit,” Sapnap says.

“Can’t you cut it out?” George glances behind to look for Dream, who of course is nowhere in sight. “Oh my God.”

Sapnap lifts his palms from the wood, but the fire remains bright on his hands. “Uh.” He curls his fingers into his palms, turning his hands to fists, but then the fire only grows more aggressive, flames now curling up and over his arms. When he splays his hands out in front of him, the fire stretches out into the air, and he finds himself shouting a warning to George, who scampers away, fear flashing in his eyes. Vaguely, Sapnap remembers a river, and he finds himself rushing back the way they came to look for it. When he reaches it, he immediately shoves his hands under the water and tries not to hate himself.

* * *

It happens with Dream too.

“You like George,” Dream says to him one day, and Sapnap finds himself fighting both the red in his cheeks and the flames in his hands. “How long has that been going on?” Dream asks, and Sapnap gives a sigh.

“When we were staying out by the beach,” he replies honestly. The next words that come out of his mouth are stuttered, reluctant: “I’ve liked him for longer.”

“So I’m guessing we’re a little bit past  _ like_?” Dream concludes, and Sapnap frowns. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s going to be weird being third wheel, but I can take it.”

Sapnap glances over at him as he takes a seat on the log next to him. “You’re not going to be third wheel,” he says. “George doesn’t like me back. Nothing’s going to happen.”

Dream places a consoling hand on his back. Sapnap wants to shrug it off. If it were anyone else, he probably would’ve. “He likes you plenty. Don’t be so negative.”

“As a friend, maybe,” Sapnap agrees.

Dream gives him a dry look. “I think as more, but you’re free to have your wrong opinion.”

At that, a small laugh works its way past Sapnap’s lips. Dream’s own tug into a smile. Soon, though, the laugh falls flat. “Doesn’t matter if he likes me. Every time he gets near I find myself, well,” he puts his palms in front of him, where tiny flames still flicker, “kind of hard to be affectionate.”

When Dream reaches over, taking Sapnap’s hand in his own, the fire dies right before they touch, and Sapnap knows that wouldn’t happen with George. He’d be the other’s destruction.

“You’ll figure it out,” Dream says. “It’s what you always do.”

Sapnap wants to believe him.

* * *

There’s always a moment of clarity that comes before declaring something a lost cause. You look at the carnage all around and know there is nothing that could have prevented it, could prevent it. That moment, for Sapnap, occurs when he and George are on the roof, the starry sky endless and open above them, George’s small cottage warm and cozy beneath them. George is laughing at something Sapnap said, something clever, something smooth, head tossed back, mouth open wide in a bellyaching laugh, and Sapnap thinks he’s so beautiful, that this night can’t get any better, but then George calms down, and he looks over, a glint in his eyes, and he rests his head on Sapnap’s shoulder.

In no universe would Sapnap ever set George’s house on fire. In this one, he accidentally does.

It’s just the roof, and normally that’d mean it’s salvageable, but when Sapnap goes to grab the bucket he always carries with him, he remembers it’s empty—he used it on a dare from Dream the night before,  _idiot_ —and George lost his bucket two days ago. So now George’s house is on fire with no way to save it and it’s entirely his fault.

No apologies could fix this. The river is way too far. The trek there, at night, way too dangerous. “I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry, George, I am  so fucking sorry,” isn’t—could never be—enough.

He leaves, and he hopes that the other at least acknowledges him after this. 

When he passes by Dream’s house, the other’s lights are still on, so he is quick to bang on the door. Dream opens it. “I set George’s house on fire. I don’t have water. George doesn’t have a bucket. Help.” Silently, Dream sets off down the path. He leaves Sapnap standing alone in the doorway. Sapnap goes inside, locking the door behind himself, and decides he’s done enough damage already. Going back would only do more. He plants himself firmly on Dream’s couch.

At some point he must’ve fallen asleep because he wakes to water flicked onto his face. He opens his eyes to see George leaning over him, brows furrowed, frown on his face. “You’re an idiot,” George tells him.

“I’m sorry,” Sapnap replies. 

George grabs his wrists, holds them so that Sapnap’s hands are far from him, then kisses him. Heat floods Sapnap all the way through. George pulls back, sees the fire spreading across Sapnap’s palms, and immediately dunks his hands into a fresh bucket of water. “This isn’t really efficient,” George says. “Kind of dumb, actually. But it’s the best we can do until you’re back to normal.”

“What, are you seeing this as some kind of affliction?” Sapnap asks.

George gives him a look and Sapnap closes his mouth, sheepish. George glances down to Sapnap’s hands. Pulls them out of the water. “I’m doing this for you,” George says. “Dream told me about… yeah, your affliction.” He meets Sapnap’s eyes. “You really have a crush on me?” he asks. “That’s  _ so _ embarrassing.” But his own cheeks are flushed.

Sapnap smiles, but it’s weak because… “I still can’t really do anything.”

“Could we start small?” George asks. He still has his fingers around Sapnap’s wrists, and he holds up one, Sapnap’s hand flopping over pathetically. George smiles before running his fingers up Sapnap’s arm and intertwining them with his own. So now they’re holding hands. Sapnap can hear the blood rush in his head as George meets his eyes. “I’m okay.”

“I’m scared I’m going to burn you,” Sapnap says, quiet. George brings their other hands together, palms pressed flat in a kiss, before his fingers slot between Sapnap’s.

“I’d let you burn me,” George replies, equally soft.

Sapnap lets out a breath.

“We’ll take our time,” George continues. “I’m scared too. I just don’t have the powers you have.” He laughs, and it’s a delicate sound. Sapnap takes it in. “I’m not affectionate. You know that, but… I don’t want you to be afraid of touching me, Sapnap. Of just being near me.”

He lets go of Sapnap’s hand to move the bucket, puts it on the floor. Takes their still-connected hands and puts them to his chest. Sapnap can feel his heartbeat. It’s rapid fire. “If I had your powers,” George whispers, “this whole world would be burnt down.”

“I love you,” Sapnap tells him.

“I know,” George replies. He squeezes Sapnap’s hand. “Nothing here has caught fire yet. You’re doing great already.”

Sapnap leans forward, brings their lips together, kisses him. 

_ “Nothing here has caught fire yet.” _

Sapnap lifts his free hand, curls it around the back of George’s neck, pulls him closer. George isn’t burnt. The bucket gets kicked over; Sapnap hears it hit the floor. The water spills out across wood. It’s fine. George’s hand comes up to cup Sapnap’s cheek. They don’t need it anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> to my friend: hopefully u liked this heh but honestly this isn’t my best work so _:(´ཀ`」 ∠): if u didn’t like it dw i get it hahaha
> 
> anyway not beta read as usual so sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes and i hope everyone had a good week i’m still doing meh but i have another georgenap au planned so yeah ( ´∀｀)
> 
> [tumblr](https://georgescatcafe.tumblr.com/) & [twitter](https://twitter.com/ywywbunny)


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